#1336: Haircut Etiquette

Sep 07, 2013

It's happened to all of us. You're on a long drive, when nature takes its course and you find yourself desperately needing to "take a haircut." Finally, a restroom appears, but it's inside a fast-food restaurant. This week on Car Talk, we tackle the moral quandary--if you use this restroom, are you obligated to get fries with that? Elsewhere, Tom is worried whether his Nissan's shocks can handle an upcoming road trip. Click and Clack are more worried that Tom plans to make said road trip with his mother and his girlfriend. Also, Erica's goal of getting her Camry to 200,000 miles hits a noisy obstacle; a clay-gathering trip turns smoky for Charlie's Explorer; and Bill's attempt to replace a broken belt with a pair of tights failed. Did he use the wrong size? The wrong color? Find out, this week on Car Talk.

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2 Comments

Shifting to 2nd at a stop

I have driven cars with manual transmissions for most of my life. However, the owner's manual for a truck I once had with an automatic transmission said that taking off in 2nd was not the same as taking off in 1st or in Drive in one important way: The transmission will be in 2nd from the beginning when taking off from the stop. This is to reduce wheelspin when taking off in low traction situations, like snow or mud.
The caller's husband is just making the car take off slower.

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White Smoke Red Herring

While I wasted one of my best hours over the weekend I heard you tell Charlie the white smoke was not a problem. I don't remember what kind of vehicle Charlie had but I have a Chevy pick up and I had the same problem. When pulling the trailer, hauling the mail, or a heavy load I got white smoke and the trans fluid went down. Cause: Vacuum shift modulator on the trans sucking fluid into the intake manifold and burning it. Worked fine just driving around at an easy pace. Might br Charlie's problem.